Security officials have claimed killing six militants late on Sunday who were part of dozens who infiltrated the Afghan border to attack a checkpost in Dir, while reports from Kurram Agency said around 60 militants in Afghan army uniforms had crossed into Pakistani territory and sparked clashes that killed two tribesmen. The two attacks are the latest in a series of escalating cross-border attacks reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan that are inflaming tensions along the porous border, just as NATO prepares to end its combat mission against the Taliban in 2014. Both countries blame each other for harboring the Taliban, fanning distrust between Kabul and Islamabad, and complicating the peace process in Afghanistan. Kabul threatened to report Islamabad to the UN Security Council over what it alleged was shelling of villages, while Islamabad said it would protest formally to Kabul against the latest incursion. “If our bilateral discussions regarding this issue bring no result, we will refer this issue to the United Nations Security Council,” Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Faramarz Tamana told AFP. In the Kurram incident, security officials said two tribesmen were killed in Upper Kurram when 60 “Afghan army soldiers” clashed with a local peace militia and security personnel. Another tribesman was also wounded “after they traded fire with Afghan army soldiers on seeing them inside Pakistani territory”, a senior official said. The clashes lasted for more than 90 minutes after which security forces were sent to the area along the Afghan border, he said. Local residents said the Afghans were pursuing attackers fleeing Shehar-e-Nau village in Paktia province. Afghan defence officials denied the alleged incursion.
“We are not aware of such an operation by ANA (Afghan National Army) in that area,” Daulat Wazir, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said. In Dir district, dozens of militants based in Afghanistan attacked a checkpost late on Sunday, the second time in eight days. Officials said six militants were killed after crossing into Sabir Killey village in Soni Darr area of Upper Dir. An official said the “firefight continued late into the night”. Another said there were reports of “hundreds of militants” gathering in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. Intelligence officials say the attackers are loyalists of Pakistani cleric Mullah Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after the army recaptured Swat valley
in 2009.
